Method of manufacturing shoes



Oct. 24, 1950 ATLAS 2,526,926

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SHOES Filed Feb. 26, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet l Oct. 24, 1950 A. ATLAS METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SHOES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 26, 194

Oct. 24, 1950 A. ATLAS 2,526,926

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SHOES Filed Feb. 26, 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Oct. 24, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SHOES Arthur Atlas, Leicester, England Application February 26, 1948, Serial No. 11,137 In Great Britain March 4, 1947 1 Claim. (Cl. 12-142) This invention relates to the method of manufacturing a shoe.

Although principally concerned with the man ufacture of ladies fashion shoes, the invention is by no means limited in this respect. Accordingly, for the sake of convenience in the following further description the term shoe will be used in a generic sense to include any appropriate footwear.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved manner of manufacturing a shoe of the kind including a lasted component, that is to say a shoe having an upper which is lasted and secured to an insole in an conventional manner.

Broadly considered, the improved manner of manufacture of a shoe includes the steps of making the upper, attaching to the said upper near the lower, i. e. free, edge thereof a comparatively wide band of suitable material arranged inside out to provide a flap, thereafter lasting both the upper and the flap to an insole to produce a lasted component having partially or wholly therearound a protuberant formation,

and subsequently applying to the lasted component an outer sole.

Although it is within the scope of the invention to make the shoe in such a way that the protuberant formation extends around a portion only of the shoe, for example merely around the forepart, the said protuberant formation preferably extends right around the upper so that the finished article has the appearance of or resembles a so-called platform shoe.

The method preferably includes the step of securing, e. g. by adhesive, to the attached lower marginal portion of the flap a strip of filling material such as cork, leather or felt so that when the flap is turned over and down and secured beneath the insole, the filling is located between the upper and the flap not only to stiffen and give body to, but also to emphasise and heighten the effect produced by the resulting protuberant formation.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readily carried into practical effect, a particular illustrative embodiment thereof applied to a lady's shoe will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the shoe upper as it appears before lasting and with the flap attached thereto,

Figure 21s a somewhat similar perspective view continuous right around the shoe.

of the same but with the flap turned down priorto 'being secured beneath the insole,

Figure 3 is a general perspective view of the: finished shoe made by the improved method,

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of so much of the shoe as is necessary to illustrate.- the invention, the said shoe being shown in the.- lasting position upon a last, and

Figure 5 is a detail sectional view of the toe end of the finished shoe showing more clearly the manner in which the flap is attached and lasted.

Like parts are designated by similar reference characters throughout the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, the upper and the insole of a shoe manufactured according to this invention are indicated by the numerals I and 2 respectively. As shown, the upper I is substantially un-lined, although it may of course be lined if desired. The upper is fitted with a toe stiffener 3 and a heel stiffener 4, and is made in any conventional manner from shaped pieces of leather suitably stitched together. In this particular example the upper l is made so as to be In accordance with the characteristic feature of the present invention, a single piece band 5 of the same. leather from which the upper is made and measuring, say approximately 2 in width is applied inside out to the upper l and stitched to the latter by lines 6 of stitching (see Figure l). The band thus completely surrounds the lower portion of the upper, in the form of a flap, with its flesh side outermost, and with the parallel securing lines 6 of stitching inserted adjacent to the lower edge of the band at a location spaced /2" or a little more from the lower edge of the upper. As shown in Figure 1, the ends 5 of the band 5 just overlap. Applied to the said flesh side of the band 5 so as completely to embrace the same and cover the lines 6 of stitching is a filler strip 1 of cork or similar material in width. The foregoin dimensions are quoted merely by way of example and may be varied according to requirements. For the sake of convenience and clarity, in Figure 1 only a portion of the filler strip 1 is shown in full lines, the remainder of the said strip being indicated in dot-.and-dash lines. The insole 2 is made of leather and as shown in Figure 4 is initially prepared by splitting the waist and heel seat portions thereof suchwise as to provide superimposed separate layers 8 and 9 between which is secured a wedge-shaped internal at ele evator IU of cork. The actual heel seat portion of the internal heel or elevator is recessed to receive 2, correspondingly shaped insert ll of sponge rubber which is secured in position, by adhesive, beneath the split layer 9 of the insole. Similarly, the underside of the internal heel or elevator I is recessed at the back to receive an appropriately shaped piece of plywood l2 which is secured in position above the split layer 8 of the insole 2 (regarding the shoe in its normal position of wear). The combined insole and heel or elevator so prepared is then applied to the bottom of 3, last such as that indicated in dot-and-dash lines at l3 in Figure 4. At this stage the last is inserted into the upper l with the attached flap 5 turned up as shown in Figure 1, whereupon the upper is lastedtothe insole. Thereafter the filler strip 1 is applied, and after the flap 5 has been turned down to cover the said strip, the flap is in turn lasted to the insole. In this way the heel or elevator I0 is located within the lasted component before the last is slipped, and the flap 5, which is reversed so that its grain face is now presented outermost is drawn tightly around the enclosed filler strip 1 to produce a flange-like protuberant formation F of the character hereinbefore described. In the particular example illustrated the inturned edges of the upper I and of the flap are secured to the insole 2 by stitching M, at the forepart of the shoe. At the heel end the inturned edge of the flap is secured merely by cementing. l5 are lasting tacks passedthrough the upper I.

The shoe is finished by the application of an outer sole 16 to which may, if desired, be attached a single heel lift [1. The aforementioned insert l2'of plywood serves to receive the inner ends of the securing elements l8 by which such heel lift I7 is secured;

The invention is also applicable to the manufacture of a shoe wherein the upper is discontinuous, for example where, as in a sandal or the like, one or more portions of the-upper is or are omitted to leave an opening or openings at the sides or/and at the heel end of the article. m-

such an application, the flap is still secured to, and lasted to the insole, the upper material be- 4 ing, however, cut away at the location or locations concerned to provide the opening or openings. If desired, upper material cut away for this purpose may be in-turned and secured in any suitable manner to the top of the insole.

Manifestly the improved shoe may, if desired, 'be made Without the filler strip 1.

What I claim then is:

A method of manufacturing a shoe which consists in attaching one edge of an elongated band of flexible material to the lower portion of an upper having a lasting edge portion to form a fl'ap initially disposed inside out, by stitching a row of stitches spaced a predetermined distance upwardly from said lasting margin of said upper in order to space said flap above said lasting margin; inserting an insole into said upper with said lasting margin thereof extending beneath the edge portion of said insole; folding the flap outwardly and downwardly adjacent the row of stitches past said edge portion of the insole to expose the desired surface of said flap to View; folding the lower free edge portion of said flap inwardly under the edge portion of said insole and contiguously with said lasting edge portion of said upper beneath said insole; securing said edge portions of said flap, upper and insole together; and attaching a sole thereto.

ARTHUR ATLAS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date M 1,245,802 Rounds Nov. 6, 1917 2,378,074 Ferriero June 12, 1945 2,425,420 Chandler Aug. 12, 1947 2,439,900 Murphy Apr. 20, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country I Date 52,018 Netherlands Jan. 16, 1942 136,371 Great Britain Dec. 18, 1919 324,469 Italy Feb. 2,193 5" 856,453- France Mar. 18; 1940 

